Mark Hamill calls out ‘odious’ Steve King on Twitter

Actor and pop culture icon Mark Hamill called out Iowa’s Steve King on Twitter on Wednesday.

It’s unclear which of King’s actions or statements was “odious” enough to attract Hamill’s attention — the western Iowa congressman has a long history of making what are widely considered obnoxious, and even racist, statements — but King has been in the national news this week for an attack on a survivor of the Parkland school shooting by his official campaign Facebook page.

King’s social media team used a photo of Emma Gonzalez leading a moment of silence at the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. on Saturday in the Facebook post.

In an email to the Washington Post, a spokesperson for King claimed the congressman could not be held responsible for the post because the Facebook page is run by his campaign staffers. The spokesperson also contended the post attacking Gonzalez didn’t attack Gonzalez: “And the meme in question obviously isn’t an attack on her ‘heritage’ in any way. It merely points out the irony of someone pushing gun control while wearing the flag of a country that was oppressed by a communist, anti-gun regime.” The spokesperson concluded the reply with a condescending, “Pretty simple, really.”

On Monday, King himself published a tweet apparently in response to March for Our Lives.

If you are a teenager & believe you won’t be responsible enough to own a gun until 21, why should you vote before 21?

Maybe because so many of us are gunned down before we even become 21 @SteveKingIA you prove exactly why so many American's are done with politicians like you who only have the goal of dividing America to make us weaker. https://t.co/uInfoCNLlb

The eight-term congressman is facing a primary challenge from Cyndi Hanson, the executive director of Northeast Community College’s South Sioux City campus. There are also three Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to face King in the general election: Leann Jacobsen, John Paschen and J.D. Scholten.

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Hamill didn’t say how Scholten, a former baseball player who is now a litigation paralegal, attracted his support, but Scholten has made it clear on Twitter he supports the activism of the Parkland shooting survivors.

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